More Journalistic Incompetence in Reporting on "ET DNA"

You may have heard about the recent NASA news conference. Apparently the people at the Examiner couldn’t process the simple centerpiece of the new event. The Examiner is an online twaddle rag akin to the Weekly World News. Here’s the Examiner’s headline:

Uh, no, that wasn’t what NASA said they found. What NASA actually announced can be viewed here, on NASA’s own site. NASA reported that THE BUILDING BLOCKS of DNA have been found on meteorites. You know, the ingredients.

The thinking skills of this journalist make me wonder what other headlines might pop into his head. Say he found a muffler, an oil pan, and a steering wheel outside a Walmart. I can see it now: “Car Discovered in Parking Lot.” Or if he stumbled upon a bag of groceries: “Three Course Meal Found in Plastic Bag.” And can you imagine him at a crime scene? He comes across some hair fibers and blood that didn’t belong to the dead guy on the floor: “Murder Suspect Apprehended at Crime Scene.”

Good grief! BUILDING BLOCKS of DNA are not DNA. They are the chemical components — unassembled. It’s hard to believe journalism is this inept. Or maybe not.